Adam Kinzinger: It's time ⁦Elon Musk makes a choice. Be a US Contractor, or Russian. Not both

[Dennis Donovan]

Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini)
It’s time ⁦Elon Musk makes a choice. Be a US Contractor, or Russian. Not both

Ukraine Discovers Starlink on Downed Russian Shahed Drone: Report - Newsweek

1:58 PM · Sep 30, 2024

Newsweek - Ukraine Discovers Starlink on Downed Russian Shahed Drone: Report

Published Sep 26, 2024 at 6:13 AM EDT
Updated Sep 29, 2024 at 2:12 PM EDT

Russia has installed Starlink terminals in its Iranian-designed Shahed drones, according to a Ukrainian media report, which would mark the latest upgrade to the destructive kamikaze drones long used against Ukrainian cities if confirmed.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down a Shahed-136 attack drone that was fitted with Starlink during aerial attacks overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, Ukrainian outlet Defense Express reported. Early on Wednesday, Ukraine's air force said it had intercepted 28 out of 32 Shahed drones launched from Russia's Kursk and Krasnodar regions.

Ukraine's air force declined to directly address the reported discovery of Starlink within a Shahed drone when approached by Newsweek, but said Ukrainian experts were studying targets shot down by air defenses. Ukrainian teams investigating the changes to Russian drone designs have not yet received the wreckage of the downed drone, Newsweek understands.

Defense Express shared images purporting to show the drone fitted with Starlink. Newsweek could not independently verify these images, and has reached out to Starlink and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

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Link to tweet

[rich7862]

1. traitors and heroes never mix

Thank You for being a hero and a patriot.

Wish the thug party had heroes like you instead of the traitors that now dominate our our congress.

[marble falls]

3. Thinks he's 1st Lt Milo Minderbender. To make money from war, it's got to go on as long as possible. Equip both sides.

[jimfields33]

31. He's from Africa. Not from the United States nor Russia.

I can see why the confusion from Adam. Many think he was born in Silicon Valley. Not a chance.

[Basso8vb]

2. Lock up that piece of shit.

[marble falls]

4. Send him home.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. To Moscow!!

[BrianTheEVGuy]

28. Not until

AFTER he serves a 40 year sentence in FedMax, has his citizenship stripped for violation of the oath of loyalty he took when he was naturalized, and has every asset seized as a fine.

[littlemissmartypants]

34. I like the way you think. ❤️

[dchill]

14. Treason adjacent. Excellent descriptor for all things Republican.

[JoseBalow]

6. Didn't he turn Starlink off when Ukraine tried to use it to attack Putin?

[dchill]

15. To the best of my recollection, he did.

[samsingh]

8. how can the military trust anything they buy from elon musk who appears to be working for Putin and Xi?

[ColinC]

9. Oh boy that's super illegal and should lose him all his contracts

[jimfields33]

32. Unfortunately there is no replacement company.

Even NASA is forced to work with him to bring the astronauts back because NASA has no way of doing it.

[JCMach1]

35. Nationalize Space X

To preserve National Security

[jimfields33]

36. I have no idea what that would entail.

Musk would have to agree and be paid?

[JCMach1]

37. No need to agree at all. Payment from profits

[groundloop]

10. Naturally Russia was using Starlink without Elmo's knowledge or permission

[Easterncedar]

11. He's a Bond supervillain

And he’s winning because we let him

[dchill]

16. Sir Hugo Drax - from the Fleming novel "Moonraker."

[Bonx]

25. Starlink is the only working comm in many areas in NC right now

[mtngirl47]

12. I'm working on a new internet access for me and my business

We're still over a year away for broadband to come up my mountain valley.

Everyone keeps raving about Starlink.....but I refuse to subsidize that man and his delusions of running the world.

Hoping that he gets some competition.

[haele]

18. There's competition being developed....

Amazon is developing Kuiper, a low earth, high bandwidth commercial satellite constellation. It should be coming online soon, they're supposed to be launching soon. They're probably the closest feature for feature to Starlink.
There's also OneWeb, ViaSat (before Starlink, but a larger set-up that is harder to replace or fix and doesn't provide as much coverage), AST (in development) and a couple other European and South African constellations, also.
License costs for users, coverage, handover times and bandwidth vary, so check if you can find an alternative that will work for your needs. A lot of Starlink buys are based on Elon's marketing ploys, instead of of actual needs.

Haele

[dalton99a]

13. Kick

[ancianita]

17. Sanction profiteer Musk. Nationalize Starlink.

[usonian]

19. Sign from the GOP convention (sorta)

[PortTack]

20. Anything for a buck! What a horrible person

[Wild blueberry]

21. End all his U.S. national security contracts, effective immediately

NASA, Starlink, everything. Confiscate every connection to our military, national security, all of it. Let him work in Russia.

[Oopsie Daisy]

22. Seize his assets. Take over the company.

[Hekate]

23. WOW

[quakerboy]

24. nationalize starlink

National security demands it

[Bonx]

26. Why stop there!!!

Rahr !!

[Bonx]

27. Adam needs to slow his roll

"Starlink is owned and operated by entrepreneur Elon Musk's aerospace firm, SpaceX, and accounts for a huge percentage of active satellites. Musk has vehemently denied that Starlink is being sold to Russia.

SpaceX said earlier this year that it does not "do business of any kind with the Russian government or its military."

"Starlink is not active in Russia, meaning service will not work in that country," the company said in a statement. "SpaceX has never sold or marketed Starlink in Russia, nor has it shipped equipment to locations in Russia. If Russian stores are claiming to sell Starlink for service in that country, they are scamming their customers."

"If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed," the company added.

A Kremlin spokesperson said in February that Starlink is "not a certified system with us" and therefore "cannot be used officially in any way."

But back in May, the then-assistant secretary of defense for space policy in the Pentagon, John Plumb, told Bloomberg that the U.S. was "heavily involved in working with the government of Ukraine and SpaceX to counter Russian illicit use of Starlink terminals."

"At this time we have successfully countered Russian use," Plumb added at the time. "But I am certain Russia will continue to try and find ways to exploit Starlink and other commercial communications systems."

Russia's use of Starlink will continue to be a problem, he said."

[Lovie777]

29. Musk is a Russian asset......................

I don't trust Starlink nor anything else he's got his greedy nasty hands on.

[rubbersole]

30. He is at least an asset...

I'm worried that it could be much worse. When he interferes in the upcoming election, besides his platforming nazis on 'X', he needs to be held accountable. He's a diabolical narcissist that doesn't believe in boundaries. Much worse than tsf. Musk has real money.

[republianmushroom]

33. Thank you, Adam.